1974 saw the publication of The New Apocrypha, in which he sought to expose quacks, "beliefs, crank philosophies and occult practices", as well as what he saw as the pseudoscience of Erik von Daniken and "Nazi science". This is his best-known work of non-fiction, and is 'must' reading for anyone seeking to explore away from traditional science.

In 1989 he returned to the States to work as a technical writer in Minnesota, and wrote Bugs, which again highlighted his dismay with a world gone mad, and obsessed with sudden and unnecessary change. He married Sandra Gunter in 1995, but died all too soon afterward from pulmonary fibrosis, on 10 March 2000 in Minneapolis.

Remembered for science writing, science fiction, detective fiction, but above all for his wonderful wordplay and humour, his departure at age 62 was indeed a sad loss.